Last of Septuplets Taken Off Ventilator; Milestone Hailed

DES MOINES —  Nathan Roy McCaughey became the last of the Iowa septuplets taken off his ventilator, joining his three brothers and three sisters in fair condition.

The milestone for the septuplets, who were born Nov. 19, is a good sign, an expert said Friday.

“They’ve moved beyond the first critical phase,” said Dr. Tim Cooper, associate professor of neonatology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

All seven are now being fed through tubes in their noses.

Doctors will closely monitor how the babies’ underdeveloped digestive systems handle the formula.

Premature babies face the risk of gangrene in their stomach and intestines.

“They’re not engineered to be doing this yet,” Cooper said.

The next milestone will be sucking and swallowing so they can take food through their mouths, an ability that develops at 34 to 36 weeks’ gestation, medical experts say. The McCaugheys were born at 31 weeks.

Premature babies who make it through the first week after birth have a 98% chance of survival, Cooper said.

It wasn’t clear if Nathan was taken off the ventilator late Thursday or early Friday, and officials at Blank Children’s Hospital would not answer questions.

Nathan’s condition was available on an answering machine at the hospital.

Earlier this week, Dr. Robert Shaw, the neonatologist in charge of the babies’ care, said it was a good sign the babies had lost 5% to 10% of their body weight because that showed their kidneys are functioning well.

Cooper said premature babies this age and size typically begin to gain weight when they are five days old, usually at the rate of half an ounce per day.